Probably not the right thing to do but figured I would throw it out there, just to see what everyone thought about it.
Muzzle.... I haven't found 1 person that will willingly walk up and pet a dog with a muzzle on. When I have Zoey out with a muzzle on, people will go out of their way to stay clear because they have that impression, YIKES that dog has a muzzle on, he/she must be aggressive.

***FYI I don't think its the best reason to muzzle a dog so don't smite me for it!!!!!!!!!

At one point I had a vest and collar with a total of 6 "Do Not Pet" patches on and people still try and pet her (I need to start putting them in multiple languages).

When I had a muzzle on and nothing else they run away as fast as they can. It's really funny.

Yup, or they ask, "will your dog bite me?" ME: "No" and I guess that is an invite to pet despite what all the patches say. I just don't get it. I take my dog everywhere and run into this multiple times a day. I am just a jerk about it now.

Not exactly sure where OP was...sounds like it was in a pet store but there are just some places where I don't expect people to leave me alone. Especially if I have a GSD puppy with me. If I'm at a pet store...even if I look like I'm working on things, I expect that people will ask to pet my dog. If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.

Now...if I'm at a park, in the middle of a large field, clearly working, I expect that people won't go out of their way to pet my dog. And this is something that has never happened to me, especially since my puppy turned into a fully grown GSD. I also tend not to work my dog for long periods of time at stores. I will heel for a few aisles, work on some sits/downs, but it really doesn't last more than a few minutes. If someone comes up to say hello, I'll allow them to, there are dog lovers at a pet store and they can't resist a beautiful/well behaved dog. When he was younger and did have jumping tendencies, I would just correct any over excitement.

I know we run into plenty of people that don't ask to pet our dogs, but I definitely meet more that do than don't.

If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.

If the dog has issues and it is not safe to pet that is true. One should not take the dog into a store knowing they are unsafe/unstable that is common sense.

This is not the case with my dog. She and I have been working very hard getting her socialized and now is the time to up the training/exposure to make sure she understands the busy world and how it works. If you want a working service dog you HAVE to do this exposure. I know my dog and what to do with her to keep the excitement level in check. A 7 month old is still a puppy but you should have control of them by that point.

I feel it does not matter if I have a working dog or a companion dog they all need to be trained and have exposure to the busy real world. It depends on the individual dog when you can bump up the exposure. If I had no control over my dog I would not bring them out to places like Pet Smart.

If my dog is sitting in a calm sit/stay I have no problem with people petting her as long as they ask. If they do not I will say something. So to fix the problem I talked to our trainer and we are getting a vest for Kaylee to let people know when we are out and about in the world.

I was very nice to the woman went I went back to explain to her and I certainly did not gripe about. If people do not want to listen walk away and stay away. Simple as that!

If the dog has issues and it is not safe to pet that is true. One should not take the dog into a store knowing they are unsafe/unstable that is common sense.

This is not the case with my dog. She and I have been working very hard getting her socialized and now is the time to up the training/exposure to make sure she understands the busy world and how it works. If you want a working service dog you HAVE to do this exposure. I know my dog and what to do with her to keep the excitement level in check. A 7 month old is still a puppy but you should have control of them by that point.

Oh I wasn't saying your dog wasn't safe, I was just stating what the general public feels like especially when in a pet store. I know most of us consider people rude, but its very rare that someone brings a dangerous dog into a pet store and therefore everyone kind of has the mindset that its alright to touch a pet in a store. Also when its a puppy, people don't expect anything bad to happen so they'll just go up and pet it. I get the whole training thing, just that a lot of times we really have to understand how the public reacts to well trained dogs in public places.

If you're training a service dog (which I just read you are) you really should think about a vest. There is a member of my club that is training one and we all wait for her to give the command to her dog before doing anything. Really cool too because my boy loves playing with him and he loves playing with my boy. I love seeing a service dog not "at work," sometimes we forget they are still puppies/dogs and love to do everything our pets get to do (especially when you see the older ones on the job).

Not exactly sure where OP was...sounds like it was in a pet store but there are just some places where I don't expect people to leave me alone. Especially if I have a GSD puppy with me. If I'm at a pet store...even if I look like I'm working on things, I expect that people will ask to pet my dog. If I'm standing in line and someone bends down to pet my dog, I usually don't gripe about it. A dog shouldn't be out in public (especially a store) where it will be in close quarters with a bunch of people if its not safe to be pet.

I know we run into plenty of people that don't ask to pet our dogs, but I definitely meet more that do than don't.

I agree and would have written this if it hadn't been typed out already! It is up to us as handlers to just be two steps ahead of the public. GSD's in general are not really into strangers petting them. Though if they know someone they are all about it and give wigglebutt lean ins.
I have two dogs that can't be in close quarters with strangers and one that is ok, yet I am still his advocate and won't unfairly let people touch him as I know he doesn't want strange hands on him.

One time, I was walking into Petsmart and ran into DJ from this board. I had never met her, but recognized Frag and her from pics she's posted. I saw they were in training mode so I just kept on walking to my car. This was when Frag was going thru a reactive stage and I knew I should not distract them by introducing myself,etc! In hindsight, maybe I should have said something and provided Frag a friendly greeting treat toss or something, LOL!

Ya, I hate it when people ask to pet my pup, and I explain yes, but not till she is sitting and calm. "She is just a puppy, it's ok" I tell them it won't be nice when she is 100 lbs in 7 months jumping on people....

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the German Shepherd Dog Forums forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.